ROCHESTER — Members of the School Board Building Committee indicated Monday they were interested in new construction for the East Rochester School, rather than remodeling the current building, but said they didn't have enough information to make a final decision just yet.

The evening's meeting was one of several in a series relating to the primary school "space study." The primary school space study was commissioned by the district in spring 2011 as way of updating the district's schools to be more modern and useful for evolving needs. Since the completion of that study last October, another space study has come forward for Spaulding High School and its various alternative schools as well, to modernize those facilities.

Recently, Chairman of the Building Committee Caroline McCarley requested the district's choice consultant Lavallee/Brensinger Architects, and the construction team, Eckman Construction, design new plans for updating the district's smaller schools. The new plans included making the smaller elementary schools larger, rather than adding additions onto larger one such as the William Allen and Chamberlain schools.

The board considered two of four options on Monday for the East Rochester School, which would include walls to divide the classrooms in the building, as opposed to the existing partition style, with larger classrooms and larger art and music instruction spaces.

"Option 1" for a new building, ranging in construction costs from $6.23 to $6.45 million, would entail fully vacating the current East Rochester building and creating a $1 million structure to house students while the old build was renovated. "Option 3," with an estimated $7.81 to $8.68 million cost, would include new construction alongside the existing building.

According to the district's calculations, Option 3, including work for all elementary schools in the district as well as the Rochester Middle School, would cost in total an approximate $23.4 million. Option 1 would cost the district an approximate $21.1 million.

Several committee members said they preferred Option 3, so that students wouldn't be moved around and in the end, there would not be a leftover structure, with a price tag of $1 million, that the district could not use. Some members considered the idea of working with the City Council to see if that excess building could actually be put to use in Rochester.

School Board member Sue O'Connor said she supported Option 3.

"I agree putting money into a building that we're just going to have walk away from, that's $1 million, conceivably, is not very smart," she said. "I would say go with Option 3, as long as all the surveys turn out in our favor."

School Board member Audrey Stevens said she was "disappointed" studies had not been returned to the board, including one relating to wetlands in the area of the East Rochester campus. Other considerations for rebuilding the East Rochester School include moving the city's preschool located there, and security issues, according to Superintendent Michael Hopkins.

The committee resolved to hold another meeting in a few weeks to review the wetlands studies. They also plan to arrange another meeting with Lavallee/Brensinger Architects and Eckman Construction to discuss possible ideas for starting construction.